The presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) relates to a device for dispensing capsules containing beverage ingredients from a storage or supply means holding a plurality of capsules. In particular, the presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) relates to a device and a method enabling the dispensing of capsules to a discharge outlet while maintaining a predefined atmospheric environment within a portion of the device and/or within the supply means.
The preparation of drinks such as coffee or tea from capsules containing a predetermined serving of beverage ingredients is well known in the prior art. Capsules have the advantage of facilitating the operations of preparing the drink, ensuring relatively clean preparation and controlling the amount and quality of the prepared product.
The principle of extracting from a capsule includes the steps of (i) enclosing the capsule in a pressure-resistant enclosure, (ii) piercing one of the faces of the capsule, generally by means of one or more spike(s) or blade(s) situated in a part comprising a water inlet or injection device, (iii) introducing a quantity of water (such as, but not limited to, hot water) into the capsule to create a pressurized environment therein to produce the liquid beverage extract, and finally (iv) releasing the liquid beverage extract through the opposite face of the capsule, which opens under the internal pressure created inside the capsule, e.g. by means of being urged against dedicated opening means.
In most commercially available extraction devices, the capsules are loaded manually or individually into the extraction capsule holder, such as by a bayonet-engagement capsule holder of the type used e.g. in traditional espresso machines.
There are also devices available which are designed for feeding the capsules from a capsule magazine to the device in order to provide a more automated arrangement and in particular an automatic delivery of the capsules to the consumer or to a beverage preparation device.
US 2005/0000366A for example proposes a device for feeding capsules containing a substance to be extracted in an extraction system under pressure for the preparation of a drink. The device includes a supply of capsules arranged in several series, and a mechanism for individually unloading one capsule directly into a reception part of the beverage extraction device, which is arranged beneath the unloading mechanism in such a way as to allow the direct descent of the released capsule into the reception part. Further, the device comprises a structure for opening the capsule and for releasing the liquid extract therefrom.
It is known that the quality of the resulting beverage strongly depends on the ingredients contained in the capsule. Thereby, in order to provide a reproducible quality of the resulting beverages, preservation of the original beverage ingredients within the capsules is an important factor. In particular, any contact of the beverage ingredients with air and specifically with oxygen results in undesired oxidation processes of the ingredients and is thus to be prevented.
Preservation of the beverage ingredients within capsules arranged in the available automated dispensing apparatus as indicated above is usually obtained by providing the individual capsule with an outer enclosing material comprising oxygen-barrier properties.
There exists however the need to use such a dispensing apparatus also in combination with capsules made from e.g. paper, cardboard or biological degradable material which are essentially gas-permeable and thus do not comprise such oxygen barrier properties.
In order to provide preservation of such capsules being made of a gas-permeable material, a secondary packaging comprising barrier properties is generally provided in which a plurality of such capsules in enclosed. This results in the drawback that after opening of the secondary packaging, no further preservation of the ingredients provided within the individual capsules is obtainable.
Therefore, a solution is sought after which enables the use of such capsules made from gas-permeable material with a capsule dispensing respectively feeding device while maintaining preservation of the ingredients contained in the individual capsules.
The presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) aims at overcoming the above-outlined problems of the prior art. Furthermore, the presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) aims at providing a solution to further problems identified in the description.